news-record.com

Are you a closet artist? Do you stalk hummingbirds with your digital camera? Or design and crochet your own hats? Maybe you write songs, poems, or short stories?

Well, it’s time to let your friends and neighbors admire your work.  

The Rockingham County Fine Arts Festival is celebrating its 63rd anniversary this year and is the oldest contest of its kind in the state.

It was started in 1946 by a group of county artists that included, among others, Phil and Peggy Link, Virginia Waynick  and June Mooney.

The event was originally held at various churches around the county.

From the late 1980s through 2007, the art festival was paired with the folk festival at Rockingham Community College.

Since the folk festival was eliminated, many people have wrongly assumed that the arts festival is also eliminated.

Fortunately, that is not the case. The Fine Arts Festival is still being held at RCC this July.

In the early years of the festival, silver cups were awarded as prizes, but at some point, that was changed to cash awards.

In each category, the first-place winner is awarded $100, second $50, third $25, and Best in Show wins $500.

The organization welcomes both corporate sponsorships and advertisements in the awards program. Volunteers are needed on any level of participation. Please email fine artsfestival@yahoo.com if you would like to help.  

Anyone 16 years or older who lives, works, or goes to school in the county is eligible to enter the festival. The only out-of-county involvement is by the judges, to ensure they won’t be familiar with any of the entrants.  

The entry fee is $5 per piece. The low cost makes the contest more open to everyone. Each person is eligible to enter five works in each category.

Categories include Painting, Drawing, Printmaking, Photography, Pottery, Sculpture, Woodworking, Literature, Music, Mixed Media, Fiber Art, and Computer Art.

Entry packets can be picked up at any of the county libraries or can be received by sending an e-mail to fineartsfestival@yahoo.com.  

Works of literature and music can be submitted between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. June 11 in the Upper Lounge of the Whitcomb Student Center. Entries in all other categories are due between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. June 24 or between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. June 25 in the Activity Room of the Whitcomb Student Center.

Awards will be handed out at 2 p.m. July 12 in the RCC Advanced Technologies Building, and the show will hang in Whitcomb Student Center until July 19.  

As someone who enjoys writing and photography, I know firsthand what it’s like to finish a piece of art and then stack it on a shelf, forgotten and unappreciated.

The Fine Arts Festival gives me a reason to create. I’ve been polishing a couple of short stories for the past few weeks.

Just having a place to show my work and a yearly event with a deadline to meet is motivational.

If you’re a closet artist, come out into the light of day and participate in one of our county’s richest traditions, the Fine Arts Festival.

Even if you can’t draw a stick figure or take a photograph without your thumb crowding the edge, come and admire the artwork of your talented friends and neighbors.